The Outsider
by Cytisus
Summary: When Knuckles sends the rookie out to Mystic Jungle, he ends up finding Tails. Bringing him back to the Resistance should be easy, especially with Sonic alive; right? Just one problem: Tails doesn't want to return. Extended/slightly AU scene for Sonic Forces, one shot.


_Note: I never pictured myself writing anything for Sonic Forces, honestly, but this little scene wouldn't leave my head. There does seem to be a lot of missed opportunities within the premise itself, but—as a kid's game—I imagine it was a tad harder to accomplish. So this takes a very short clip and expands upon the missed in-between, while simultaneously adding a little more seriousness to its core. I think I stayed mostly canon with the game's plot, but I apologize if I goofed something. :3_

* * *

Have you ever been the outsider, looking in?

The term is used so often that it becomes overdone, and almost tiring, in a way. But, in the end, the definition is painfully accurate:

You are simply an observer, unbiased and detached from the emotions linked to a situation. And yet, somehow, you become prominent in every scene and conflict.

Such was the case for the dubbed Rookie, a name he'd almost grown attached to. His real name, as well as his life before the war, was unnecessary. He was a means to an end.

He preferred it that way.

The others were close to one another, and had known each other for a while. While that may have been beneficial in forming plans and knowing your tactical advantages, it was a hindrance in almost every other aspect. Sonic's presumed death had torn away at the binds that held them all together, and had nearly ripped apart the formation of the Resistance in the first place.

The pain was nearly palpable throughout the team, even six months into the war, when Rookie had joined their ranks. Simple disagreements would quickly cascade into heated arguments and emotional fallouts, nerves already frayed long ago. Any mention of the blue hedgehog would result in downcast eyes, hoarse comments, and deep sighs, followed by a curt change of subject.

Rookie had of course known _of_ Sonic the Hedgehog, the famous speedster of Mobius that had foiled numerous evil plots to take over the world. So, when word spread that the hedgehog had actually fallen, it wasn't surprising to see hope flounder, as well.

The world had lost its hero.

_"Rookie, come in."_

He startled at the abrupt sound, but brought his wrist up to his mouth, his eyes still searching the area. "Rookie here." He glanced at his COM unit, frowning when he realized the video feed wasn't working.

_"You're close to the energy readings we're picking up."_

"Copy that. I'm about a quarter kilo out from the lab entrance. I'll keep an eye out and let you know what I find."

_"Got it. Frequency is hit and miss right now, so if you can't get a hold of us, try again at the perimeter. Knuckles out."_

The red Mobian wolf brought his wrist back down, continuing his trek through the Mystic Jungle. A lot can change in a couple weeks' time. In his case, he went from a helpless civilian to an integral part of the Resistance, and was now working to bring Eggman and Infinite down, once and for all.

None of it was truly _earned_, though.

He was a survivor, of that he could agree on wholeheartedly. But he was a cowardly one, at that. He had survived Infinite by running away, not by fighting him. He had agreed to join the Resistance for safe harboring, not to be a hero.

And he had reluctantly went on a mission to bring a once-thought-dead hedgehog home, only to botch up those plans, too, and have Sonic the Hedgehog save _him_, instead.

In another time and place, he would have gone and purchased lottery tickets, considering his impeccable luck at not getting killed.

Taking a moment from his digressive thoughts to focus on traversing through some thicker bushes, Rookie found himself in a small clearing, nearly void of sunlight due to the heavy foliage of trees towering over the area. On the south side was a large cliff face, with a sizeable portion of the base chipped away to reveal a thick metal wall and door. Eerie totem poles glowed yellow along the clearing's edges, an odd decoration for what was supposed to be a hidden laboratory.

Scorch marks littered the area, as well, a telltale sign of Sonic's recent visit there, trying to protect Silver. The hero had had an altercation with Infinite, one of which didn't go very well in the end. Like Rookie before him, however, Infinite did not kill Sonic. He had deemed him too weak to be worth the effort, according to the jackal.

Sonic was still recovering from six months of imprisonment, despite his best attempts at hiding it, but it still made Rookie wonder how they were going to win this fight. If Sonic the Hedgehog himself was unable to defeat Infinite … what then?

A beam of reflection hit the red wolf's face, causing him to squint out of instinct. Focusing on the object along the ground, a warm glow prompted his feet to move towards it.

Bending down, Rookie cautiously picked up the tiny ruby gemstone, turning it over in his palm and letting the scattered sunlight rays briefly reflect off its smooth surface. Stripes of black intersected the jewel, which meant it definitely was not of natural formation. Or, at least, no natural jewel that he was familiar with.

Rookie's wrist came up to his mouth again. "Knuckles, do you copy?"

Static filled the void.

"Dang it," the wolf muttered. Despite his intentions to pocket the gem, he couldn't stop staring at it. An almost imperceptible _vibration_ was coming from it, and he briefly wondered how valuable the trinket was.

And, more importantly, what had Infinite used it for?

A sudden but distant rumbling caught Rookie off guard. He quickly turned around, his hands clenched in tight fists as a precaution.

The sound grew, and before he could register what he was hearing, Rookie was suddenly face-to-face with Sonic.

"Oh," he breathed out in relief, but his next words faded when he took a closer look at the blue hero.

Sonic was slightly taller than him, but this one … wasn't. He was on the rounder side, too, youth evident in his facial features and demeanor. He had that same lopsided smile, though, enough to where Rookie didn't immediately conclude that he was an imposter.

"What—"

"Have we met before?"

Rookie jumped, taking another long moment to realize those words had _not_ come from the Sonic doppelganger standing before him. Turning around, a young fox with two tails _flew_ down to the ground, his double appendages somehow propelling him through the air.

He was older than the Sonic wannabe, though not by much. Rookie suspiciously glanced between the two kids, the gemstone still in his hand and hiding behind his back within a tight fist.

"Don't think so," Rookie finally replied. "Though, I imagine you get that a lot," he said, his head motioning to the younger blue Mobian.

"This is Sonic, and I'm Tails," the yellow fox stated, an electronic contraption in his hands. He had it aimed like a camera at Rookie, which made the wolf even more nervous.

"Fitting name. But, uh, this isn't Sonic," Rookie said, shaking his head. "I've met him, and he's not that vertically challenged."

A soft beep came from his machine, stopping Tails from whatever he was about to say. Looking back down at the yellow device in his hands, he frowned. He gave a quick, poignant glance to Sonic, who also frowned. Then, in a flash, Rookie was tackled to the floor.

"Hey—!"

"It's that jewel!" he heard Tails yell.

The so-called Sonic instantly grabbed at the gemstone in Rookie's hand, prying it from his fingers. The wolf struggled to keep possession, but the blue hedgehog happened to be just as quick as the Sonic he was more familiar with. Seconds later, Rookie was left coughing out dust that had been kicked into the air, slowly sitting back up to see little Sonic holding the odd jewel out to Tails. The fox turned and aimed his device at it, eyes fixated on whatever the portable machine was doing.

"What a welcome party," Rookie grumbled, brushing his fur off as he fully stood.

Tails instantly aimed the weird contraption back at Rookie, almost like a weapon, and the wolf instinctively took a step back. Little Sonic was glaring at him.

"Where'd you get this?!" Tails asked, his earlier politeness completely gone.

"Uh, right here?"

"Are you with Eggman?!" he yelled again, a bubbling rage making the kit nearly tremble. Rookie watched him oddly, glancing over to see little Sonic holding his own stare-down with the wolf.

"No…" he answered slowly, "I'm with the Resistance. I was sent to investigate some live signatures they detected here." He paused. "You guys, I'm guessing."

Tails' eyes were drawn back to his monitor. "He's real," he declared and paused. "Though, whether he's telling the truth remains to be seen."

Rookie couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Look, kid—"

"My name is _Tails_. I'm not a kid."

"Stars," Rookie muttered under his breath again. "Whatever. Can I please have that jewel back?"

_"Rookie, come in."_

All three Mobians froze from the new voice emanating from Rookie's wrist.

The wolf cautiously brought the COM up to his mouth, his movements deliberately slow to not adversely startle the two self-proclaimed adults. "I found your energy signatures."

_"Copy that. Friendlies?"_ Knuckles asked.

"To be determined."

Tails had grown a shade paler beneath the fur, his expression one of uncertainty as he stared at Rookie's communication device. He eventually looked back up to meet Rookie's eyes, but the eye contact was brief. An internal decision must've been made, then, because he returned his attention to little Sonic. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Wait, he's suddenly not worth the fox's time to interrogate anymore? Now _that's_ a bit odd.

Even little Sonic glanced at Tails confusedly, but the fox had already started walking away.

_"Rookie, come in,"_ Knuckles' voice cut through once more, the static heavy in the background.

Rookie watched as little Sonic sighed, shook his head, and turned to follow, still not uttering a single word.

The wolf put two and two together between the sequence of events, and brought his wrist back up. "Knuckles, do you know a fox with two tails, by chance?"

Nothing but static. Then: _"WHAT? Tails is there? With who?!"_

"Uh … Sonic," Rookie said. "But not our Sonic," he added quickly. "Like, a lookalike Sonic, but, er, younger?"

The fox had stiffened when Rookie spoke to Knuckles, but did not turn around. He'd already reached the edge of the clearing, in fact, and was propelling his tails to take to the air.

"Wait, kid!" Rookie called out.

_"Tails, please!"_ Knuckles called through the COM.

Neither worked, but little Sonic's firm hand on Tails' shoulder did. The fox whipped around angrily. "They _won't_ be of help to us, Sonic!"

The static on Rookie's wrist waned some, enough so that Knuckles must've heard the comment even at their distance. _"Tails, we've been searching for you for **months**! Please, let the rookie take you back to headquarters."_

"Thanks, but no thanks," Tails sarcastically and loudly stated, still glaring at little Sonic. By now the younger hedgehog was being fully animated with his arms, trying to relay something to the fox like a game of charades.

Rookie, watching the interaction curiously, took a step forward. "Sorry, but uh—why isn't he talking?"

Tails, a snarl still on his muzzle, barely gave Rookie a side glance. "He can't," he brusquely explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Of course," Rookie deadpanned. To his COM he said, "Knuckles, does Sonic have a younger brother that looks exactly like him and happens to have the same name? Because this is unsettling."

There was silence, both from Rookie's wrist and the two Mobians in front of him. Rookie looked up and raised a brow at Tails' expression.

"Did I … say something wrong?" he confusedly asked.

_"Tails,"_ Knuckles sighed out through the COM, _"he's alive."_ There was a brief pause, as if he was waiting for a response, but the fox did not react. Tails simply stared at Rookie's wrist like he was looking right at Knuckles. Little Sonic was next to him, glancing worriedly between kid and wolf as the silence lingered.

There was some sudden movement on the other line, enough to cause clacking through the speaker. Another sigh escaped from Knuckles. _"But I'm guessing that's why you're out there. You already know he's alive, don't you?"_

The hurt expression on the young fox's face morphed into anger so fast the wolf began to wonder if this kid was mentally stable. "Of _course_ I know, Knuckles. I've known for six months and counting!"

Oh. _Oh._ Things were starting to make sense, now.

"Wait, is this the sidekick? The one that you said ran away?" Rookie asked, feeling a little slow on the uptake. He had of course _heard_ of Sonic the Hedgehog's sidekick, but he wasn't a big enough fan to look into who that sidekick was, per se. When he'd joined the Resistance, Knuckles had made a brief, offhanded comment that he had ran away to find Sonic, whom he believed was still alive.

Well, this was awkward.

"I did not run away!" Tails yelled back, little Sonic keeping a firm grip on Tails' arm. To hold him from leaving or attacking at this point, however, was anybody's guess. "I _left_ because _someone_ needed to do the right thing!"

_"What was I supposed to do, Tails?!" _

"Help me find Sonic!"

_"We had no clues! They never even breathed his name! It was all we could do to survive."_

"NOT. GOOD. ENOUGH!"

There was a deathly pause, then, long enough for Rookie to hear crackles on one end of the conversation and heavy breathing from the other.

_"We **did **find him, Tails,"_ Knuckles' defeated voice rang out.

"No thanks to you," he mumbled, but still purposely loud enough to be heard.

Rookie began to question exactly how long Knuckles and Tails had known each other. He was pretty sure that anyone _else_ talking to Knuckles that way would learn what it meant to kiss the ground with an echidna fist.

The silence this time was obviously to restrain anger, as Knuckles' next statement sounded like it came through clenched teeth: _"The Sonic from the past is there, right? That means Infinite's power is affecting multiple dimensions. We could use his help … and yours."_

More silence. An internal battle could be seen raging on the kid fox's face though, one that even little Sonic looked uneasy about.

_"Will you **please** come back?"_ Knuckles asked again, his voice gravelly. Rookie had never known the commander to be very emotional, but it was becoming evident that this kid fox meant something to him.

Tails didn't respond right away. He pulled his arm away from little Sonic, sighing. Retrieving his mini computer again, he pressed a few buttons, then hesitated.

Eyes still downcast, he pushed a button.

The static on Rookie's COM went dead.

"Knuckles, you read?" the wolf asked, trying to open the connection again.

"I've jammed the frequency," Tails explained, putting his computer back into his small backpack. "It'll automatically come back online in about fifteen minutes."

Rookie opened his mouth to retort, but Tails interjected with, "Don't follow us."

The wolf let out an irritated sigh. "_Look_, nerdy little kid, I might not know what's going on here completely, but Knuckles ain't lying to you. Sonic is alive and we _did_ find him. And I don't know what mute Sonic over there has to do with all of this, but in this fight against Infinite I'm thinking _two_ Sonics is better than none, right?"

"Do _not_ call him mute!"

"Enlighten me, then, on why he's acting like a mime." Case in point, little Sonic's arms were flying about every which way until Rookie pointed it out. He stopped, then, crossing his arms over himself and opting to stick his tongue out at the wolf, instead.

Well, that solidified that this _was_ Sonic, though the how and why were still hazy.

"I have a theory." Tails then grumbled something else incoherently, shifting his backpack and turning back into the undergrowth.

That was helpful.

"Hey, wait up!" Rookie called, jogging to catch up.

"I said _don't_ follow us!" Tails growled. To add to that threat he began spinning his tails and took to the air. Little Sonic looked over to Rookie apologetically, but revved up along with his partner, both of them taking off into the jungle.

"I don't get it. Don't you want to see him?!" Rookie called out, coughing from the dust that had been kicked up in their wake. "At least give me back that jewel you COWARD!"

They were long gone. He let out a few curse words, but began chasing after them anyways. If he went back without them _or_ that jewel, he'd probably be strung up by his toes—

_"OOMF!"_

Every ounce of air was forcefully removed from Rookie's lungs as a pair of shoes—attached to a furry body—came crashing into his side at full speed. He smacked onto the jungle floor, dirt and leaves flying up into the air as he skidded to a stop, dazed and disoriented.

Angry blue eyes stared down at him. "I am _not_ a coward!"

Rookie coughed, the weight of the fox not helping his ability to recover from that blow very quickly. "Hit a—a nerve there, kid?"

Tails roughly shoved the wolf as he stood back up. "Stop acting like you know anything, 'cause you _don't_."

Rookie slowly propped himself up with his elbows, internally trying to determine if his lungs we're going to fully inflate again. "I'm finding it hard to believe you and Sonic are friends." He groaned as he managed to fully stand back up, letting out a big breath that was long overdue. "You're like a stick in the mud compared to him."

Little Sonic had reappeared at some point, and was frowning fiercely at Tails. The fox had his own intense stare on the ground again, though, his brow furrowed and his tails agitatedly whipping about behind him.

"How do you know him?" he finally asked.

The change in tone was instant, and once again threw Rookie off guard. He thought about the question briefly. "You mean Sonic? Uh, this world's Sonic?" Rookie tried to clarify. Tails looked up at him, then, a silent confirmation if he ever saw one. "I was a part of the team that rescued him from Eggman's space station."

"He had been on the Death Egg the whole time?" Tails nearly whispered. "What … what did they do him?"

"Dunno. Didn't ask," Rookie answered truthfully. He slowly stretched his torso side to side, ensuring to himself that nothing was broken.

"Was he … okay?"

Rookie stopped and scrutinized the fox for a moment, trying to gauge his expression. When the kid looked away, however, the wolf just shrugged again. "I never knew him before, so honestly couldn't tell you. He's got all his arms and legs, though. Maybe a little skinnier than I remember on TV, but the camera adds ten pounds, right?"

His joke died the instant it left his mouth, causing Rookie to let out a harrumph. "He at least appreciates humor, so he's not completely desolate."

Tails did not respond. His eyes had returned to the ground again, though it was clear that he was lost in thought. Little Sonic brought a comforting hand up to Tails' shoulder, shooting a glare over to Rookie and using his free arm to motion something incomprehensible to him.

"Penny for your thoughts, short Sonic," Rookie sarcastically quipped, crossing his arms.

Little Sonic's glare flashed hot with indignation, and one of his hands pointed accusingly at him before going off into what looked like another tirade.

"Will you stop antagonizing him, please?" Tails complained.

Rookie shrugged. "I'm sorry, but shouldn't he know sign language or something if he can't talk? I don't get why a Sonic of the past is a mute, but the Sonic of today belts out wisecracks in his sleep."

"I told you, he _can't_."

"You're a great teacher, you know that?"

"It's the dimensional traveling, all right?!" the fox yelled, finally catching little Sonic's attention. "Sonic can break the sound barrier, and both times he's entered this world that was what he was doing. So if dimensional travelling includes the action of re-atomizing—a theory on its own—then my hypothesis states that his voice essentially got left behind, or is possibly on another plane of existence."

Rookie blinked, as did little Sonic. Tails, to his credit, waved them both off. "Look, like I said, it's just a theory. It's not exactly like I've had the time to test it. My sample size is a little meager, anyways."

The fox shifted his backpack, his head motioning towards Sonic. "Let's get out of here."

Rookie stepped forward. "So let me get this straight. You've been out here for who knows how long, trying to find Sonic alive because no one else believed you. Lo and behold, you were right and they were wrong, and now Sonic's back with the Resistance. But instead of letting me take you there, you're going to ignore everyone like an idiot and stay a vagrant, for … reasons?"

As the fox turned away, he roughly stated, "You don't understand."

Rookie felt like clenching his own teeth in frustration, but calmly replied, "Okay. I'm sure Knuckles does, though."

Tails scoffed. "He _especially_ doesn't understand."

As the fox walked away, both little Sonic and Rookie followed. He didn't start running or flying this time, at least, so Rookie was able to continue the conversation.

"Fine, okay, he doesn't understand. But it doesn't _matter_ anymore. Sonic's there."

Silence.

"I'm starting to think the only thing that makes sense about you is your name."

More silence, aside from the crunching of leaves along the jungle floor.

Rookie felt his muscles tighten out of aggravation, but a sudden memory surfaced as they walked, something Knuckles had said when he briefly mentioned the sidekick's disappearance. Catching up with a few quick paces, Rookie cleared his throat as he got right behind the duo. "He said you were there, when Sonic got taken."

The words were digested quietly as Tails continued to lead the way. "So?" he finally asked.

"So, is _that_ why you won't come back?" This time, Tails' pace increased. He roughly shoved a branch out of his path, revealing the anger that Rookie couldn't see from where he followed.

_Bingo_. Rookie took a deep breath, quickly avoiding the branch that had been pushed away and was now flinging back in his direction. "Look, kid," he started, "I know a thing or two about being a coward; trust me on that."

Tails stopped again, spinning around and jerking a finger furiously at Rookie. "I'm _not_ a coward!"

The wolf stood his ground. "Well, you're acting like one right now."

"_What_ is your problem?!" he growled.

Rookie, becoming unphased to the kid's constant attitude shift, crossed his arms. "Well, right now it's two kids that have an important jewel I found. Oh, and the leader of the Resistance happens to want both of those kids to return to headquarters."

Tails brought his arms up in an exaggerated motion. "I'm _not_ going back!" he practically screamed.

"Then you're a coward," Rookie concluded coolly.

"Then MAYBE I am!" Tails hollered, stepping away from both Rookie and little Sonic. The younger hedgehog shot daggers in Rookie's direction, before bringing out a soothing hand towards Tails. The fox stepped away from him again, however, his head finally hanging down in defeat.

"I don't deserve to be there," he whispered, his voice rough.

"Now that's stupid."

"I _don't_," Tails insisted, his head still hanging low. "I'm the reason Sonic got captured. Everyone else thought he was dead, but being a prisoner for six months? That's … that's _worse_."

Neither Sonic nor Rookie reacted right away, his last comment hanging thick in the air. There was a distinct change in the kid's tone, though, enough to make Rookie eventually take a hesitant step forward. "…Okay, but it's _not _your fault."

In tandem, Tails stepped back farther and looked up, eyes glazed. "I was _there_. I couldn't help him. I couldn't—move, there were so many and I tried to scan them, to figure out those _weird_ energy readings—"

"Stop—" Rookie tried to interrupt.

"They're the same ones that come from this jewel, and I think they're warping perception, but I—" Tails' voice got louder and became strained as he spoke, his eyes looking at Rookie like he was looking right into a mirror. "I should've deduced that _sooner_, if I had he wouldn't have gotten _hurt_, he was outnumbered and I just _stood_ there, I didn't know what to do—he told me to _run_—"

"_Stop—!" _

"_Shadow_ was there, and it didn't make _sense_, and now I don't think it was really him, but everything happened so _fast_ and Sonic was on the ground, _beaten_, and I _left_ him. I LEFT him!" Tails shouted the last sentence, his voice cracking as his emotions finally began to surface. Little Sonic tried once again to step forward and reach out to him, but the fox swatted him away. He didn't even look at him—his eyes were transfixed on Rookie, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "I wanted to go get help, but they were gone when we got back, and all that was left was _blood_—_too_ much blood—it was _my_ fault, I can't go back, I _can't—"_

_"Tails!"_

This time the call worked, but only because it came from Knuckles, through Rookie's COM unit. Rookie had noticed the green light turn back on during the kid's breakdown, signaling the end of Tails' timed frequency jammer, and the wolf had discreetly clicked open the communication without saying anything. There had been the brief sound of a reply but—most likely hearing Tails' ongoing outburst—they had quickly shut up to listen in, instead.

A hiccupped breath came from the fox, tears that had been threatening to fall finally running down his cheeks as he blinked. His eyes were once more transfixed on the wolf's wrist.

With the silence enduring, aside from snippets of static, Knuckles solemnly said, "_Tails … I'm **sorry**_."

Rookie glanced up and saw that Tails remained unmoving, allowing little Sonic to finally stand next to him. The hedgehog gingerly placed a supportive hand on the kid's shoulder, and this time the fox did not resist. Tails' emotional meltdown appeared to have been cathartic, in a way, and had calmed the fox, as he seemed in a much more agreeable demeanor to at least listen to the echidna.

Little Sonic peered over to Rookie with a look of relief, evidently coming to the same conclusion.

Knuckles took in a deep breath, the sound crackly through the COM. _"I had no idea ... I … when we lost Sonic, everything changed. Suddenly everyone was looking to **me**_ _for answers … and I hated it. I never wanted this role._

_"I was angry. I'm not a leader and never have been. I had lost a great friend, and suddenly had to save the world. I couldn't even begin to fill Sonic's shoes that way."_

The echidna cleared his throat, emotion thick in his words.

_"I was so wrapped up in keeping everyone alive that I … I didn't even bother to think about what you were going through. I had lost a friend, but you had lost your … your brother. I thought you were in denial at first, but looking back … you had every right to believe he was alive._

_"And I—I made a huge mistake: I ... I didn't listen. I wasn't there for you when I should've been. If I had just **stopped** and **listened** to you, then maybe we could've found Sonic sooner."_

There was a long, muffled pause from the COM, almost like Knuckles had placed a hand over the device for a moment.

The static returned briefly, before Knuckles spoke again, his own voice wavering:_ "And I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for everything."_

Tails let out one small, choked cry at that, one of his hands coming up to wipe the tears away from his eyes. Little Sonic wrapped his arm around Tails' shoulders.

Knuckles cleared his throat again. "_But you're **stupid**_ _if you think **any **of this is your fault._" Whatever emotion had been there before was gone as quickly as it had surfaced. "_You did **not**_ _fail Sonic, you hear me? There was nothing **any** of us could've done to save him. I **failed you** by believing he was dead. Infinite is stronger than anything we've ever faced before, and even with Sonic back, he remains undefeatable."_

That seemed to catch Tails' attention, as he looked up worriedly. "Sonic … he fought him again?"

His voice had lost the edge Rookie had become accustomed to since meeting the fox. It was the first time he'd heard the kid's true age in his tone.

_"Yes. He is strong, but we think we know the source of his power now—"_

"The Phantom Ruby."

_"His jewel? How do you know its name?"_

Tails sniffed again, wiping the last of his tears away. "I—we overheard Eggman and Infinite talking."

_"I … I guess we have a lot to catch up on."_

This time, the masked invitation seemed to work. Tails smirked—just barely—and nodded to himself. "Yeah, we do," he answered quietly.

Making another connection in his mind, Rookie couldn't help but rudely interrupt with, "Wait, that jewel I found. Is that the Phantom Ruby?"

_"What jewel?"_

"No," Tails answered Rookie before Knuckles. "It's a prototype. Or, at least I think it is."

"**_What_**_ jewel, Rookie?"_ Knuckles asked again.

"I'll bring it to you," Tails responded before Rookie could.

No one spoke for a moment, the fox's simple statement soaking in with its true meaning.

_"I—er, copy that." _He took in a shaky breath. "_Rookie, return to base with Tails and, uh__—__past Sonic, for recon_."

Rookie shrugged as if to say, "Why not?" but eventually responded with, "Ten-four."

"Knuckles?"

Rookie and little Sonic glanced at Tails again.

"Where … is he?" he asked. "I mean, if he was there I … I thought—"

"_He isn't here right now_," Knuckles answered the unasked question. "_Trust me, I would've made **him** talk you into coming home, if he was_."

"Then where…?" Tails trailed off, watching Rookie's COM unit like it was a beacon in the dead of night.

The leader of the Resistance let out a breathy laugh. _"Where else? Looking for you."_

As Rookie looked back over to Tails, he saw a small smile grace the edges of his muzzle. It was the first true smile he'd ever seen from the kid fox, and one that ironically held a tinge of mirth.

It made him smile in return.

Maybe they could win this war, after all.

fin


End file.
